Gaming & Culture —

Halo movie postponed. How long? No clue

Things don't look good for the Halo movie as Peter Jackson and Microsoft take …

Halo was a go, and with Peter Jackson on board as executive producer we were all excited. Then it was canned, because the studio money walked away. Then Microsoft and Bungie started to shop the movie around again, and we regained our excitement. Now? The movie is apparently on ice, and while the press release seems rather hopeful, it doesn't sound good to me. Have a look:

As was previously confirmed, we deeply regret that both Universal and Fox did not choose to move forward with financing the Halo film under the original terms of the agreement. At this time Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, along with their partner, Microsoft, have mutually agreed to postpone making a feature film based on the Halo video game universe until we can fulfill the promise we made to millions of Halo fans throughout the world that we would settle for no less than bringing a first class film to the big screen. We are fully supportive of Director Neill Blomkamp's vision of the film. Neill is a tremendously gifted filmmaker and his preliminary work on Halo is truly awe-inspiring. While it will undoubtedly take a little longer for Halo to reach the big screen, we are confident that the final feature film will be well worth the wait.

So what are we waiting on? Does the first-time director Neill Blomkamp need to cut his teeth on a smaller project or two? Are they unwilling to put up the money themselves and no one else will? Is it simply not the right time for the project? We'll see if they decide to give any other details, but it is clear that big-budget movies such as Halo are having a harder time getting funded in Hollywood. Movies based on video games have not been big money-makers so far, which likely makes everyone even more gun shy. It's a shame—this could have been something special. In the meantime, we'll keep our ears pressed to the ground for more news.